A transfer system of this type is already known from French patent application FR 2,903,653. In the system described in this document, the rotary joint whereof the axis extends in the longitudinal direction of the arm is positioned at the articulation to the outer arm, which has the drawback that a relatively significant weight is placed at the free end of the inner arm. Furthermore, a heavy and cumbersome part of the system, comprising at least one rotary joint, is transferred to the liquid natural gas carrier or is mounted on the manifold.
Another major drawback lies in the fact that the outer arm is not balanced.
Added to these drawbacks is also that due to the architecture of the arm device, the emergency disconnect device is vertical, such that, in case of emergency disconnect, the part of this device abandoned on the liquid natural gas carrier may tilt.